


Constants

by kellyinawheeliebin



Category: Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Freeform, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28454634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kellyinawheeliebin/pseuds/kellyinawheeliebin
Summary: There is a theory, one that is almost laughable in its absurdity, that states there are an infinite number of worlds, with an infinite amount of choices. It states that even if in this universe, the theory is not at all correct, and all choices are final, there is a universe in which it is in fact true, and in some worlds, Jay Gatsby does not meet his end by the pistol of a grief-stricken man by the name of George Wilson. In some worlds, he does not even make it so far, but even in all these worlds, there is a constant. The man that many came to know as Jay Gatsby dies before his time. He is not always alone, but he is never content. He is never remembered.
Relationships: Daisy Buchanan/Jay Gatsby
Kudos: 4





	Constants

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this three years ago for a high school assignment and turns out I think it's actually good, so make of that what you will. I'm also the worst at tagging things.

There is a theory, one that is almost laughable in its absurdity, that states there are an infinite number of worlds, with an infinite amount of choices. It states that even if in this universe, the theory is not at all correct, and all choices are final, there is a universe in which it is in fact true, and in some worlds, Jay Gatsby does not meet his end by the pistol of a grief-stricken man by the name of George Wilson. In some worlds, he does not even make it so far, but even in all these worlds, there is a constant. The man that many came to know as Jay Gatsby dies before his time. He is not always alone, but he is never content. He is never remembered.

In the world we know, there are no second chances, and all decisions are final. Here, Major Jay Gatsby meets a young Daisy Fay and fell in love with the idea of a beautiful girl with wealth and a social standing one cannot simply dismiss. In the five years that follow, he commits himself to grow his wealth to gain her affection. His destiny is not to elope with Daisy Buchanan, but to ultimately meet his doom protecting her from the homespun justice of a distraught husband. In another world, the duo do not just keep driving in an attempt to delay the inevitable. In this world, George Wilson has no pistol in his hands when he confronts Jay Gatsby. His hands find a tire iron, and this is where Gatsby meets his end. Sometimes it is a wrench, and in a few, it is his bare hands.

In a few rare worlds, George Wilson realises that it was not the man who had struck his wife, but the woman in the white gown. In these worlds, her dress does not stay white for long, and in the weeks the follow, there are no more parties at the big house in West Egg, only a drunkard at the bottom of a bottle of what made his fortune. It is a surprise to few when his butler is unable to rouse his master, and almost a month after the murder of Daisy Buchanan, Jay Gatsby is pronounced dead of alcohol poisoning. The romantics among the spectators murmur to each other, “it was a broken heart that killed Jay Gatsby,” and the cynics scoff. It is not always a bottle, and it is not always a month, sometimes it is a length of rope and a day, a pistol and an hour. But a body is always found, and a man is always dead; the romantics always sigh and the cynics always scoff.

In some worlds, Gatsby is not even in the car when Myrtle Wilson is killed. Daisy Buchanan does not stop, and the witnesses watch a woman drive away, alone in the yellow Rolls Royce. There is no one else to blame, and a grieving widower sets his sights on the woman in the big house. In this world, Jay Gatsby’s life still ends in West Egg, in the summer of 1922. Daisy Buchanan is found dead in her home, blood staining her white gown a ghastly crimson. The body of one George Wilson is found nearby, the hole in his head painting a gory masterpiece on the walls and floor, his pistol a quaint accessory to the scene. Jay Gatsby’s life ends in the same way as any world in which Daisy dies; by his own hand.

Sometimes, the man New York knows as Jay Gatsby never makes it so far. In 1907, a seventeen year old James Gatz resigns himself to his fate, and never leaves the confines of his family farm. He never meets Daisy Fay, and never has a reason to make his fortune. In these few rare worlds, James Gatz does not die in the summer of 1922, no, it is in 1935 at the age of 45 does he meet his end. The Dirty Thirties destroy any hope of a prosperous harvest, and dies of what they come to call dust pneumonia. This is the quietest of the deaths of James Gatz, and one of the rare few where his final breath does not form the word “Daisy.”

In others, he only makes it slightly further in others. In 1907, the same James Gatz flees his fate of dust choking his lungs, and finds himself in the company of one Dan Cody, sailing around the Atlantic with only the copper tycoon for company. This newly minted Jay Gatsby never has the chance to meet Daisy Fay, for when a storm grows on the horizon, the duo challenge the waves to sink the unsinkable. In this world, it is not dust that chokes his lungs, but water. In others he makes it further still. He is halfway to convincing himself is in love with Daisy Fay when an artillery shell detonates beside him in his trench, and Major James Gatsby is killed in action in 1917.

James Gatz does not always die in the summer of 1922, and his name is not always Jay Gatsby. He does not always live in what is almost a palace, he is not always outrageously wealthy, and he is not always deeply in love with Daisy Buchanan. He is not always killed by a bullet through the heart by a grief-stricken husband, and he does not always have what could almost be called a friend to attend his funeral. There are infinite worlds, with infinite choices, but in each and every single one of them, the man we know as Jay Gatsby dies long before his time. He is not always alone, but he is never content. He is never remembered.


End file.
